Jeff had the vision of running a coaching practice to help people improve their spiritual and financial lives yet he realized it could take years to build up enough income to support his wife and children.  He always vowed to make enough income so his wife could stay home.  Knowing that his business would not meet the immediate needs of his family, he could have easily put his dreams on hold.  He prayed that God would provide a way for him to pursue his passion yet provide for his family.

While attending a museum, he saw a five foot gumball machine that had hundreds of green gum balls and just one pink one.  The pink gum ball stood out like a sore thumb among all the green ones.  Then what he saw next was astonishing.  He saw grown men and women digging into their pockets putting quarter after quarter into this machine to try to get the “pink” one. Jeff reflected, “That was pivotal moment that God had me in that place at that exact time to witness this rare phenomenon.  It couldn’t have been a better time.  My wife didn’t see this as an opportunity, but I did.”

Jeff wrote down the 800 number listed on the gumball machine and went to meet the owner.  Three hours later he wheeled home five gumball machines.  His wife thought he had lost his mind.  “We’re living in a two bedroom apartment and you bought thousands of dollars worth of gum?”  After calming Kathy down, Jeff explained how he was going to create additional income until his coaching business took off.

Jeff went restaurant to restaurant wheeling his machines around town getting thirty rejections for every “maybe”.  Rejection could have got the best of him, but Jeff kept brushing it off and pressing on.  Finally, he sat down and said, “this can work.  There has to be a better way.”  This is when he crafted an effective sales pitch.  It was simple yet made perfect sense.  Restaurants have dead space in the waiting areas.  His pitch, “why not place a machine there and he would give them 25% of the profits for “rent”.  His success rate went up dramatically and he quickly had his first five machines in business.   This began working so well that Jeff eventually bought 25 more machines.

He literally drove around town stocking gum and collecting quarters, but he paid rent and provided for his family even while making minimal income from his coaching practice.  Jeff knew his future in the gumball business wasn’t forever. In his coaching practice, he kept making connections and working his circles of influence, gaining customers at a rapid pace.  This continued for about three years until his coaching practice made over a million dollars a year.  He has since hired ten staff members and has annual sales in excess of $3.5 million.  All from the vision God gave him and his ability to step out of his comfort zone and look for solutions “out of the box”.  Jeff says, “I owe it all to God’s faith in me and showing me the pink gumball.   Quite honestly, if it weren’t for the gumball machine business I wouldn’t be where I am today.  God is such a faithful rewarding God.”